Neutral roll out – extremely low heart rate, which persisted throughout the entire race. I never even made it into Zone 5 for the finishing climb and sprint.

KOM #1 – end of the first lap, I sprinted for some of the minor points only to find out later that only the first 3 places were scored

KOM #2 – no sprint for me this time, but the pace was fast with somebody attacking halfway up the climb establishing a split in the field — the field mostly came back together

KOM #3 – I led the entire way up this climb during one of the sections where I was helping to chase the break and keep our tempo higher. I tried to maintain a pace that was fast enough to discourage attacks, but slow enough that I still had a little something left in case there was an attack.

The finishing climb and sprint. The pace eased a bit — I am second guessing a bit wondering if I should have attacked the sprinters — not confident enough to think I could drop them on that short of a climb, though

Steadily rising heart-rate as I work harder each lap to move farther up in the pack.

Settling in nicely near the front (top 15-20 of the pack)

Attacking through the Start/Finish area to move up to the front of the pack

Attacking to attempt to bridge to Frank Travieso.

Fighting hard for position as the pace gets fast for the final laps with a surprisingly high max heart rate for a “Day 2” race

2009-04-25 Athens Twilight Pro Race

Lap 1 crash in Turn 2 – accelerate from 9mph to 25mph by the top of Washington Hill

Altitude – each peak on this orange line is the top of Washington Hill and so you can use it to count the laps in the race. You’ll see that there are 80 of them!!! The reason for the gradual decline is that the barometric pressure must have been rising during the early part of the race (which would make my Garmin think that the elevation was getting lower and lower)

Notice the gradual decline in my heart rate — direct evidence of how the race is easier the closer you get to the front of the field

Here is the late race breakaway that I made it into.

2009-04-17 Mississippi Gran Prix Friday Night Criterium

Covering a break

Flat tire near the start/finish line

Moving into position for the final sprint

2009-04-18 Mississippi Gran Prix Road Race

Covering a break on the 4k to go hill at the end of the first lap

Solo bridge attempt on the 4k to go hill at the end of the second lap

Making it into the final breakaway which launched on the 4k to go hill

2009-04-18 Mississippi Gran Prix Time Trial

Going out too hard?

The gradual dip in the heartrate through the middle of the course means that my legs were giving out before my aerobic system

2009-04-19 Mississippi Gran Prix Circuit Race

Covering a break

Making it into the four-man breakaway right after the halfway sprint

Solo attack (I was hoping somebody else would join me)

Getting run off the road

2009-04-11 Barbers Ride to Live P/1/2/3 Heartrate Data

I attacked here to bridge to a break with Ty Stanfield (Kenda Pro Cycling)

Here is my attack on the last hill, look at the spike in my heart rate. Amazing what adrenaline of the moment will do!!!

The break wasn’t working well together so everything came back together. Here is the start of lap 5 where I attacked to bridge to a two-man break. Note how my heart rate stays high for the rest of the race as I was trying to drive the break to keep it away from the chasers

2009-03-15 Guntersville Training Race

2009-03-07 Regions Albany Time Trial

2009-03-07 Regions Albany Criterium

2009-03-08 Regions Albany Road Race

2009-02-28 – Topview Harbins Road Race

2009-2-23 GSMR Training Race #1

Following Mike’s wheel to bridge up to Darryl and Travis

Working with Mike to bridge up to Wes Douglas and Mike Lanham

Watching the sprint for first unfold and then our own sprint for third

2008-10-11 Day 1 – Downtown Greenville Cycling Classic

2008-10-12 Day 2 – Downtown Greenville Cycling Classic

2008-10-05 Dalton Criterium

2008-09-23 Tuesday World’s training ride. Click for larger image

Warm-up through Mountain Brook

Ruffner Road, bridging to back of main group

Ruffner Road, bridging to the fast group that was off the front

Fast up the John Rogers climb

The highway 78 climb

Old Leeds Road sprint

6’38” up Smyer Road all the way to the top of Smyer Circle (avg speed 16.0mph, avg power 372 watts)

2008 Pepper Place Criterium Heartrate and Power data

2008 US 100K Classic Power and Heartrate data

2008 River Gorge Downtown Chattanooga Criterium

2008 River Gorge Time Trial

2008 River Gorge Road Race

2008 Cuba Road Race

2008 Downtown Meridian Criterium

2008 Tour of Elk Grove, Stage 2 – Last Lap

2008 Tour of Elk Grove, Stage 2

2008 Tour of Elk Grove – Stage 1 Finishing Sprint

2008 Tour of Elk Grove Stage 1

2008 Bull’s Gap Time Trial

2008 Alabama State Road Race Championship

2008 Alabama State Criterium Championship

2008 Sprott TT – Alabama State Championships

2008 Fitchburg-Longsjo Stage 4 Criterium

2008 Fitchburg-Longsjo Stage 3 Circuit Race

2008 Fitchburg-Longsjo Road Race (Stage 2)

2008 Fitchburg-Longsjo Stage 1 Time Trial

2008 Memphis Grand Prix – Criterium

2008 Memphis Grand Prix – Time Trial

2008 memphis road race (with annotations)

2008 Memphis Road Race

2008 Avery Trace Road Race

2008 Avery Trace TT Heart rate and Power data

NVGP 2008 Day 3 – Time trial

NVGP 2008 Day 2 – Cannon Falls Road Race

NVGP 2008 – Day 1 – Downtown St Paul Criterium

2008 Tour de Winghaven HR data

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11 thoughts on “Training Data”

I am not currently using it … complicated story but I ordered the entire kit (Polar CS600 with power sensor) from Performance. The speed sensor stopped working after 8 months of hard usage, but Performance wouldn’t take a partial return so I had to ship EVERYTHING back to them. Instead of sending me a repaired speed sensor unit, they refunded my credit card — which considering the economy was a huge blessing for us so I am going to hold off on purchasing another one until our financial situation improves. OK – as far as the WIND power sensor, I thought it was great although a little tricky to get setup initially. I mounted it myself, and the operation took about two hours. I initially didn’t have the cadence sensor close enough to pick up readings. Somebody recommended that I purchase a rare earth magnet ($2 from Radio Shack) to replace the one that comes with the unit. After I did that, I didn’t have any more problems with the cadence sensor. I found the readings to be consistent, but I don’t know how accurate the raw numbers were considering I’ve never used a different power meter for comparison. I wish they would drop the price just a little bit more, but it’s still the cheapest and lightest weight way to get a power meter. I would go as far as to say it’s the “best value” power meter. It does add quite a bit of “equipment” to your bike so it is not the prettiest thing in the world, but that’s not why we ride bikes is it???

I wanted to upgrade my old ass Polar 720i to a CS600 so I bid on a new unit on ebay that happened to come with the power sensor for $315!! I was thinking of selling the power sensor to recoup some money but also considered installing it to see what it’s like.

I’ve had several generations of PowerTaps (even with eTune owned them) and an SRM. I enjoy limited amounts of power training (especially on the CompuTrainer) but on race day it just comes down to gut strength– eff those numbers. My life is kinda crazy so “staying up all night with a sick child” does not get registered as part of my TSS in WKO+.

I feel you on Performance. I’ve broken a spoke on a set of wheels that I’ve gotten from them (wheels that were later discountinued) and they refunded my money versus trying to repair that one spoke or helping me keep the wheels I loved so much.

Came across your blog yesterday on a search. I was trying to search online to figure out the gradient on both sides of Double Oak Mountain. Saw one thing that said it was an average of six percent. Thought they meant the steep side, but I thought that might have been too low, though I don’t have a measuring device. Anyway, saw your mention of Double Oak Way in a May 27 post this year. Not sure if you meant Double Oak Mountain, as I saw online a street of that name off of 41, although it seemed too short for the 3.77 miles you listed.

In any event, I like training on Double Oak Mountain and I’m wondering what you’ve found the average gradient to be on both the steep side and the not-as-steep side of Double Oak Mountain, and what’s the highest gradient stretch on the steep side. Is it 23.9 percent at its toughest. I’ve driven but not ridden on Hugh Daniel, and the 280 side at the very top is definitely steeper than Double Oak, but not the side coming from Route 41, which would seem to jibe with your findings.

Thanks for you consideration and look forward to hearing from you, Brian. God bless you.

Hi Tom, the Double Oak climb that I reference a lot is the same long mountain ridge, but it is a different road up that mountain. The one that I believer you are referencing is located on Hwy 25 that runs on the shallow side from Vandiver up towards Leeds. The steep side is the opposite direction coming from Hwy 41 towards Vandiver … here is the info that I have on the shallow side (from Vandiver) and the steep side (from Hwy 41).

Shallow side from the intersection of Co Rd 491 – 1.7 miles @ 4.9% with the steepest quarter mile segment @ 6.8%
Steep side from the railroad tressle bridge – 1.0 miles @ 7.2% with the steepest quarter mile segment @ 10.2%

For the steep side, even though the avg gradient is 7.2%, it is a pretty steady 9-10% once the road gets steep, but it starts out kinda shallow from the railroad bridge. The steepest section is nowhere near 23.9% … The max instantaneous gradient or slope is probably closer to 12% on the steep side of the Hwy 25 climb. On the Double Oak Way climb, the max instantaneous gradient is close to 25%, but the max quarter mile gradient (average gradient for at least 0.25 miles) is 12.6% … Also, it is only 3.1 miles long if you measure it from where you turn off of Co Rd 41 onto Double Oak Way. I’ve uploaded a map to show you where the Hwy 25 climbs are and where the Double Oak way climb is.

Here are the elevation profiles for the Hwy 25 climbs and the separate Double Oak Way climb –

Brian, thank you very much for your response to my questions. You covered all of the bases. Right after I finished up my post, I thought to myself, in reference to the steep side of Double Oak Mountain, “There’s no way that thing is 23.9%.” But I’m glad to hear it’s 9-10% for a good stretch and “peaks” at about 12%. That makes sense. Glad to hear that the shallow side averages 4.9%. Some friends had a lower, unscientific guess of 2%.

I’ve been training to climb the steep side of Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts (3,491 ft.) this weekend when I visit a friend there, and I’m feeling more confident now, based on my Double Oak Mountain training and the related stats you’ve provided. Understand from cyclists in Massachusetts that Greylock on the steep side is about a 10-mile ride with an average gradient of 6%, rising to 13% at points. Thankfully nothing 20% or more.🙂 But it’s definitely a pretty serious climb and endurance test.

I’m going to have to try Double Oak Way down the road. Speaking of particularly steep climbs, I think we’re thinking of the same short steep part of Hugh Daniel, i.e., coming off of 280, where it crests at the top.

Also, if I may follow up briefly, have you have ever ridden up the short, steep part of Bermuda Drive in Irondale, or know someone who has? Right off of Old Leeds Road near where I work at EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network). You turn at the Mountain Brook Swim and Tennis Club on Bermuda Drive, descend a little and then go up a short but rather steep portion. I was thinking that small portion had to be over 20%. Have you ever calculated its gradient, or has someone you know done so?

One last road. I think it’s 16 Avenue South, which runs adjacent to Vulcan. You enter off of 20th St. South. You start up and it’s not so bad, but then you veer to the left as the road continues, and it’s get fairly steep. From the top you can ride down and over to English Village. Have you ever calculated its gradient? Not as steep as Bermuda, but definitely longer and thus certainly tougher.

Thanks again for all of your consideration, Brian. God bless you and your family.

Tom

Then I took a break for some easy riding along 25 and 43 and then up one final time on the shallow side and back to the fire station.

I’ve never done the Bermuda Dr climb, but I used topocreator to plot out the elevation profile, and it looks like it average 17% for over 1/10th of a mile. For Hugh Daniel, I believe the steepest part of the climb is near the top, but you can get even steeper if you turn left (coming from 280) to climb the 25+% entrance road into the Greystone Crest neighborhood. I’m not sure about the 16th st south climb, but I think you might be refering to the Woodcrest climb (from Highlands on the birmingham side to the top of the mountain where it turns into 20th st s on the homewood side). That’s one of the Birmingham monsters that I wrote up in this post – https://toonecycling.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/the-birmingham-monsters-aka-20-percenters/ – It maxes out at just under 22%, but the steepest pitch comes after a flat section so it feels that much steeper.

Had a great ride ascending the steep (north) side of Mt. Greylock over the weekend in Massachusetts. Weather was great and so the panoramic view at the top was breathtaking! Doing repeats on the steep and shallow sides of Double Oak proved to be great prep.

BTW, a great place to rent a bike in the Berkshires of Massachusetts is the Arcadian Shop in Lenox. That’s where I rented mine. Brought my own pedals and shoes.

Two other things. You are correct. Woodcrest is the steep street. Thanks for the clarification.

Also, re: Bermuda, I double-checked and found that the actual ascent is closer to .05 or 1/20 of a mile. Don’t know whether an online guage can measure that small of an increment or whether someone would have to do it on a bike. But I do think it would come in at over 20 percent if just the ascent were measured.

Thanks again, Brian. Maybe one day I’ll get the privilege of drafting off of you on one of your slower rides. God bless you and your family.

Where do you get your di2 data from? like the data you have in the pie charts. I have di2 w/ the wireless transmitting sending the shift data to my garmin but I don’t see any of it in my downloads.
Thanks for your help.
Keep on keeping on your awesome Brian!!!!